Bowery Farming, a New York City-based indoor-farming company, has opened a second facility in Kearney, New Jersey. Company officials say the new facility is the most technologically sophisticated, commercial indoor farm in the world, producing 30 times more output than its New York City location. The opening of the New Jersey facility will result in more […]
Tag: produce
Dairy And Produce: Grow Sales By Providing Solutions
by Cindy Sorensen/ Founder and CEO, The Grocery Group Today’s produce departments provide a great example of how grocers have reinvented departments within their stores to be relevant to consumers’ ever-growing and changing desires and demands. Several years ago, when local farmers markets began to pop up in library, shopping center and school parking lots around their […]
Frieda’s Kicking Off Its Hatch Chile Season Next Week
Hatch Chiles are coming back in season ahead of the usual mid-August start date, and Frieda’s Specialty Produce says it is kicking off the season as early as Aug. 4 with strong supplies. Hatch Chiles are available from Frieda’s in a new Frieda’s-branded 25-lb. case and 8/2-lb. retail pouches in mild, medium and hot heat levels. The pouches help cashiers […]
Nicaraguan Red Dragon Fruit Almost Ready For Summer Sales
Red dragon fruit, grown in Nicaragua, is two weeks away from its high-volume launch in July, and will be available through Frieda’s Specialty Produce through November. “Our grower continues to focus on the best, most flavorful varieties of red dragon fruit, and we are expecting excellent volume this season,” said Allen DeMo, director of procurement […]
AgriLife Wants To Boost Texas Tomato Production Through Grafting
A team of Texas A&M AgriLife researchers and horticulturists are investigating how successful integration of vegetable grafting into tomato production practices could present new opportunities for the Texas tomato industry. More than 2,100 acres in Texas were used for tomato production in 2012, in 2015, that crop value reached $4.9 million, according to the USDA’s […]
Pretty Lady Grapes Founder Jakov Dulcich Killed, Suspect Arrested
The founder of Dulcich & Sons, the Delano, California, farming company best known for Pretty Lady grapes, was shot and killed April 11, reports The Bakersfield Californian. Jakov Prosper Dulcich, 84, was found with multiple gunshot wounds around 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday in the area of Woollomes Avenue and South Browning Road in Delano, according […]
Viva Fresh Expo Welcomes Texas A&M Students For Third Year
This year’s Viva Fresh Produce Expo again will feature the Aggies for Fresh Reception after two successful years of offering students the opportunity to connect one-on-one with attendees, with many of those students securing positions within the industry as a result. Aggies for Fresh is a campaign created to recruit students from Texas A&M University to the fresh produce industry. This year’s nine Aggies for Fresh scholarship […]
Eastern Produce Council To Honor Frieda Caplan At Annual Dinner
Frieda Rapoport Caplan, founder of Frieda’s Specialty Produce, is one of two women who will be honored for their contribution to the produce industry at the Eastern Produce Council (EPC) John J. McAleavey 52nd Annual Dinner Dance in Woodland Park, New Jersey, on April 7. Annabel Donio Arena, second-generation leader of Frank Donio Inc., based in […]
Aunt Dottie’s Renamed Greenjoy; Launches New Logo, Packaging, Website
Aunt Dottie’s is rebranding its products as Greenjoy, revamping all its packaging and launching a new website. The name Greenjoy comes from the company’s line of Pressed Salad Bars and its relevance to the company’s goals—to bring joy to eating healthy greens and vegetables. As it continues to expand, the company is uniting all its […]
BrightFarms Entering Texas With $17M Hydroponic Greenhouse
BrightFarms, a brand of locally grown salads, has selected Abilene as the site of its first hydroponic greenhouse farm in Texas. Construction is slated to begin this summer, and shoppers will find fresh, local, pesticide-free and non-GMO greens and herbs in area grocery stores by early 2019. The 180,000-s.f. hydroponic greenhouse will be constructed at […]
Fox Packaging Celebrates Grand Opening Of Texas Printing Facility
Second-generation, family-owned produce packaging developer Fox Packaging hosted a grand opening for its new printing facility in McAllen, Texas, this month, bringing more than 200 growers, suppliers and partners together to celebrate. The 32,000-s.f. facility took 8 months to build and was led by the team at Noser Construction Co. Thanks to the new facility’s state-of-the-art printing […]
Recommended: The Red Delicious Is An Apple Atrocity. Why Are We Growing Billions Of Pounds Of Them Each Year?
Almost everyone agrees: The Red Delicious is a crime against the apple. The fruit makes for a joyless snack, despite the false promise of its name, with a bitter skin that gives way to crumbling, mealy flesh. The Red Delicious is a bit like a Styrofoam prop: It looks picturesque, but really has no business […]
Meijer Offers ‘Meal Inspirations’ Kits To Cut Down On Recipe Prep Time
Meijer is rolling out new “Meal Inspirations” kits designed to both inspire at-home chefs to create their own unique recipes and to save customers time in the kitchen. “One of the challenges that many at-home cooks find draining is the time that goes into meal prepping,” says the company, so the kits draw on the culinary […]
Trump Administration ‘Food Box’ SNAP Proposal Sparks Concern
The Trump Administration’s 2019 budget proposal calls for a change to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that would replace current benefits with a “USDA Foods package.” The food box would contain items like “shelf-stable milk, ready to eat cereals, pasta, peanut butter, beans and canned fruit and vegetables.” Food Marketing Institute (FMI) Chief Public […]
Kroger Reaches $1 Billion In Annual Organic Produce Sales
The Kroger Co.’s organic produce business has achieved $1 billion in annual sales. “Kroger offers one of the largest organic produce departments in America, and we are proud to have led the way in making this category more mainstream, accessible and affordable,” said Robert Clark, Kroger’s SVP of merchandising. “We have a dedicated procurement team that partners with more […]
Gary Davis Of Russ Davis Wholesale Passes Away At Age 81
Gary Davis, former president and owner of Russ Davis Wholesale (RDW) in Wadena, Minnesota, died at his home Jan. 3 after a long battle with cancer. 2017 marked 60 years since Mr. Davis started selling fresh produce with his father, Russ. “Over the course of 50 years he leveraged a tremendous work ethic, significant smarts, […]
Sprouts Farmers Market Readying Stores In Its Home State
Sprouts Farmers Market soon will finish construction on new locations in Tempe and Scottsdale, Arizona. Those stores will be among four opening in the first quarter of 2018 in the grocer’s home state. The 30,000-s.f. Tempe store is located at 931 East Elliott Road and will open on Wednesday, March 21, at 7 a.m. The […]
Give Fresh Departments A Boost With Chinese New Year Promotions
Frieda’s Specialty Produce offers training and programming to help retailers ring in the Year of the Dog: Draw in shoppers to your store with the unique food experience of a Chinese New Year promotion. Frieda’s Specialty Produce offers special support to customers who book a Chinese New Year promotion by Jan. 10; it includes a […]
H-E-B Huntsville Preview Included Concert, $100K In Donations
H-E-B’s newest store opened to shoppers Nov. 15 in Huntsville, Texas. The day before, the grocer and H-E-B Chairman and CEO Charles Butt donated $100,000 to local nonprofits and invited the community to a concert at 6:30 p.m. that evening featuring Texas country singer-songwriter Kevin Fowler. The 82,000-s.f. store, located at 1702 11th Street, is […]
United Fresh To Present Lifetime Achievement Award To H-E-B Exec
United Fresh Produce Association will present its Lifetime Achievement Award to Hugh Topper, group VP of fresh foods for H-E-B, at its Foundation Gala Dinner Jan. 16, at the Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego, California. “As Hugh plans his retirement at the end of this year, I can’t think of a more deserving individual […]
